**The Official January 2012 WDW Thread**

[ArmyWife7]

We'll be at the Pop Century resort from January 29th to February 4th! It'll be our second trip as a family, third for my husband and I (together), and fifth time total (for me).

We're celebrating my husband's return from Afghanistan. We went when he returned from Kuwait we took our Princesses to WDW and we decided to do it again!

The best part? They have NO idea!!! We're still trying to figure out how to tell them.

Wonderful to "meet" you all!

Welcome! We're going for the same reason. DH will be home next month from a 1-year deployment. I'm sure your kids will be thrilled between the surprise trip and Daddy coming home.

 

[OziJo]

What non-park activities are you most looking forward to?

Exploring Fort Wilderness, Downtown Disney and the Outlet malls

 

[Cin]

What non-park activities are you most looking forward to?

I'm looking forward to shopping at DTD and the outlets![/QUOTE]

Resort hopping! and dining... I'm sooo excited to try out all the new restaurants that we've never gotten to before. The Afternoon Tea at the Grand Floridian is a special treat I planned just for Mom and I as well as dinner with Wishes fireworks at the California Grill. I can't wait to see the resorts firsthand.

 

[Cin]

YAY!!!!! We're at double digits on the countdown!!!!!!

 

[perrymarshall]

What non-park activities are you most looking forward to?

I'm looking forward to taking a trip into Celebration for a couple of hours - it looks kind of fun there - has anyone else taken a trip there?

 

[okw19]

I'm looking forward to taking a trip into Celebration for a couple of hours - it looks kind of fun there - has anyone else taken a trip there?

My grandparents have gone before. They said it is pretty but I'm not sure how much there is to actually do.

 

[Meriweather]

Thanks

We've all been slacking off on our question of the day/week.

What non-park activities are you most looking forward to?

I'm looking forward to shopping at DTD and the outlets!

Non-"Disney" park activity we are looking forward to is a visit to IOA and Wizarding World of Harry Potter.

"Disney" non-park......meeting a DIS friend and her sister for a dinner and tea at GF.

Eating is way up there, right below shopping! (we're 2 gals on a birthday trip, so I see lots of shopping in our evenings)

 

[BenA81]

My grandparents have gone before. They said it is pretty but I'm not sure how much there is to actually do.

the only place we found of interest was the chick-fil-a, it really broke up the magic by leaving property and dining elsewhere. We had gone in the middle of our vacation when we had been staying on prop at CBR. I don't think we'll be doing that again.

 

[Marshay]

Thank you, we will be in a 1BR at BWV and while I wouldn't normally do laundry while in vacation, I probably will so I won't have so much to do when we get home and I figured I could just wash the towels we use if need be. There will only be 2 of us.

I like to throw my clothes in the dryer for just a few minutes before dressing to get the wrinkles out and if it is cooler in January, it will warm me up.

yeah, at first I hated the thought of doing laundry on vaca, but when it's right in your room, it's sooo easy. We now pack less and like you said, we don't have as much laundry to do when we get back, which is really nice!

 

[Marshay]

Non-park activities I'm looking forward to:

- Eating at Garden Grove (new for us)

- Eating at T-Rex (new for us) and shopping at DTD

- Grand Floridian Garden View Tea (I saw a few of you are doing this. We go on Tuesday, January 24th)

- Legoland

- Enjoying the extra space at Old Key West (new for us)

 

[MVC1225]

So in the past week our MLK weekend trip with just my girlfriend and I turned into a trip with her younger brother and first cousin (his first time to all parks except one previous visit to MK). I love taking newbies to the park.

We are arriving on January 12 and leaving January 16. We are staying off site.

 

[danimaroo]

Non-park activities I'm looking forward to:

- Eating at Garden Grove (new for us)

- Eating at T-Rex (new for us) and shopping at DTD

- Grand Floridian Garden View Tea (I saw a few of you are doing this. We go on Tuesday, January 24th)

- Legoland

- Enjoying the extra space at Old Key West (new for us)

Just noticed you're also at the 3 month mark! Are you arriving on January 19th as well?

OKW is LOVELY. We stayed there for a week in a 1BR (after moving over from GF) and absolutely loved it. It was nice and quiet, soooo spacious, and was wonderful to come back to after a day of shopping or running around the parks! We are staying at Beach Club Villas this time, as we both wanted to try something new and thought an Epcot resort would be a blast.. we're also in a studio, so we'll have to adjust, but it's just my DH and me in the room, so we don't need a ton of space. I WILL miss, however, the big bath tub!

 

[ash-n-brensmom]

URGH!! I totally have been slacking when it comes to this thread..in my defense it has been put on the back burner because of our cruise next week...but now that I am pretty much ready for that one, I should be more present here...



New Question of The Day (or maybe it should be weekend or week, since it's slow in here sometimes?)
What Are You Doing This Month To Prepare For Your January Disney Trip?

I have been printing off Touring plans and flight itineraries to give to DH in a card because this trip is a surprise for him and our two DD's. I will be presenting it to him during our trip alone next week.


New question of the day.

What is your earliest Disney Park memory?

Unfortunately my first trip wasn't until I was an adult, married with kids...so my first memory is standing in front of the Castle watching the Dreams show and crying because I couldn't believe that we were actually here!!!



We've all been slacking off on our question of the day/week.

What non-park activities are you most looking forward to?

Trying out our timeshare for the first time pretty much ranks at the top, followed closely by surprising DD 11 with breakfast at O'hana's with Stitch her all time favorite character!!!

 

[Colleen27]

We've all been slacking off on our question of the day/week.

Hi there! /wave from the Mar '11 FB group.

I didn't see some of these older QOTD so I'll join you in catching up on them.

What Are You Doing This Month To Prepare For Your January Disney Trip?

I'm working on my day by day plans but really I'm not doing much right now. We're booked and this fall is turning out to be super busy, so a lot of the trip stuff is back burnered until things slow down a bit in mid-Nov. I haven't even put together a to-do list much less started checking things off of it!

What is your earliest Disney Park memory?

My first trip was as an 18th birthday/graduation present so I don't have early park memories. My clearest memory of that trip is actually the day we spent at River Country. I loved the slides that ended way above the water so you free-fell into the pool below!

 

[perrymarshall]

the only place we found of interest was the chick-fil-a, it really broke up the magic by leaving property and dining elsewhere. We had gone in the middle of our vacation when we had been staying on prop at CBR. I don't think we'll be doing that again.

Maybe not worth going then :S Might have to re-think my plans for that day.

 

[Marshay]

Just noticed you're also at the 3 month mark! Are you arriving on January 19th as well?

OKW is LOVELY. We stayed there for a week in a 1BR (after moving over from GF) and absolutely loved it. It was nice and quiet, soooo spacious, and was wonderful to come back to after a day of shopping or running around the parks! We are staying at Beach Club Villas this time, as we both wanted to try something new and thought an Epcot resort would be a blast.. we're also in a studio, so we'll have to adjust, but it's just my DH and me in the room, so we don't need a ton of space. I WILL miss, however, the big bath tub!

Actually, we leave on the Autotrain on Thurs., Jan 19th so we arrive WDW on Friday, Jan 20th and stay until the following Saturday. I'm really looking forward to trying OKW -- we've done them all so far (well, actually WL not VWL so we'll have to get there sometime, too). Our favorites are AKV-Kidani and BLT.

We also like BCV a lot, too. You can't beat that walking into Epcot and SAB is fantastic. We'll get back there again when we go in warmer weather and can enjoy the pool more.

I love being part of the whole crowd over there at Epcot...love walking around the lake, going over to Boardwalk,etc.

A funny story: Originally we had invited friends with us for the first time (they said they couldn't afford it), then we invited another set of friends (they said yes, then decided to go to DL instead since they have family out there), so then we invited my parents (they decided they didn't want to go in January and are going in May).

I thought it would be EASY to get friends to go to DW with us. I mean if others invited me, I'd jump on that so quick!

So we took our extra points we would have used on the 2BR (fortunately, we hadn't reached the 7month mark so didn't use any points since I wasn't going to reserve until we knew for sure who was coming with us) and will use them for a future trip. Hoping to do BLT-LV or even MK view if available in 2013 or 2014. Last time we just did standard view but also loved that since we were overlooking the marina anyway but didn't have to spend the extra points!

Any extra tips/suggestions for OKW?

 

[WickedDreamer]

So excited!!! 96 days until I leave for my first visit to the world !! Can't wait, will be on holidays for just over 2 weeks, am a little bummed though that Big Thunder Mountain and Dumbo will be closed for the whole of our trip , especially as we will be missing Fantasmic due to the shows refurb

We have also planned to visit Sea World, Universal and the space Kennedy Centre

Congrats to everyone who has reached double digits!!!

 

[ash-n-brensmom]

Hi there! /wave from the Mar '11 FB group.

I didn't see some of these older QOTD so I'll join you in catching up on them.

What Are You Doing This Month To Prepare For Your January Disney Trip?

I'm working on my day by day plans but really I'm not doing much right now. We're booked and this fall is turning out to be super busy, so a lot of the trip stuff is back burnered until things slow down a bit in mid-Nov. I haven't even put together a to-do list much less started checking things off of it!

What is your earliest Disney Park memory?

My first trip was as an 18th birthday/graduation present so I don't have early park memories. My clearest memory of that trip is actually the day we spent at River Country. I loved the slides that ended way above the water so you free-fell into the pool below!

Hey!! I got excited when I saw you here..I was gonna say hi but you beat me to it!!! Hi!!

 

[korie99]

Booked our airfare!!! Very exciting! I got great rates through SW on the flight down, then got even better rates for the return flight through Jet Blue (our preferred airline) so I booked them last night. Right now I'm stalking the car rental prices, and will be ordering park tickets. This time of year always flies by with the holidays - hoping it goes even FASTER this year!!

 

[PrincessSuzanne]

the only place we found of interest was the chick-fil-a, it really broke up the magic by leaving property and dining elsewhere. We had gone in the middle of our vacation when we had been staying on prop at CBR. I don't think we'll be doing that again.

We have been off property before, but usually before we hit the parks, so it doesn't feel like we have really arrived yet. But this time, DH really wants to eat at Giordano's, so I have agreed to do that, he has been telling me about them since we met, he grew up in Illinois. We will be doing this on our 6th evening, I am not really sure about it, but it is only at the end of Hotel Plaza Blvd.

yeah, at first I hated the thought of doing laundry on vaca, but when it's right in your room, it's sooo easy. We now pack less and like you said, we don't have as much laundry to do when we get back, which is really nice!

I have done that before at a condo we stayed at in Destin, I didn't want to go home with wet, sandy swimwear. But, I decided when we booked a 1 BR and knew we would have a washer/dryer, I thought I won't have to spend my one day at home before going back to work catching up on laundry. I won't do much, but some is better than none.

Do I need to bring my own detergent and dryer sheets, it isn't a problem, we drive and have some of those Purex sheets?